QuietKat Jeep E-Bike Review: Go almost anywhere on two wheels

Some of the terminology in this review have you scratching your head? Check out our E-bike guide.

I don’t recall where I was on February 2, 2020, but I know, like nearly 100 million other people around the world, I was watching the Super Bowl. It was on that night I first got a glimpse of the Jeep E-Bike. It was easy to miss, only on screen for maybe two seconds as Bill Murray took a ride on it, along with a helmeted groundhog in a front basket. After all, the commercial wasn’t for the bike, but for the Gladiator Rubicon. 

Then came the Covid pandemic. Flights were canceled. Countries shut down. Toilet paper was hoarded. Entire cities became ghost towns. But something else happened: the popularity of biking sky-rocketed. The arrival of the Jeep E-Bike, a bike made by electric bike company QuietKat and licensed by the automaker, was perfectly timed.

QuietKat Jeep E-Bike Specs:

Motor(s) - 1000/750-watt Ultra-Drive
Battery - 14.5AH/48V | 696Wh | 12 lbs
Range - 22-44 Miles
Brakes - TEKTRO 4-Piston Hydraulic Disc
Fork - 140mm QK Inverted Air-Suspension
Suspension - 150mm RockShox Monarch RL
Wheel/Tire - CST Roly Poly 26” x 4.8”
Drivetrain - SRAM 1x9
Weight (without battery) - 69 lbs
Load Capacity - 300 lbs
Sizes - 15.5”, 17”, 19”
Colors - Charcoal, Red

The first time I got on the QuietKat Jeep E-Bike, a 1000-watt, full-suspension, fat tire behemoth I was skeptical, yet excited. In bold letters on the QuietKat website it is touted as “The Most-Capable E-Bike On The Planet” and it looks like it. With 150mm front suspension travel, almost 5-inch-wide fat tires and a frame that looks like it could be run over by a Wrangler and look no worse for wear, the Jeep E-Bike is an intimidating two-wheeled machine.

The first thing I had to do with the bike once it arrived at my house was get it out of the box, a task that sounds easier than it was. With a weight of 69 pounds not including the battery, lifting the Jeep is definitely a two-man job, though as I proved it can be done by one stubborn person if you don’t mind risking the back pain. Putting the bike together was a relatively simple task, thanks to very descriptive videos on the QuietKat website and all of the tools to do so included with the bike. 45 minutes later I was covered in sweat and some grease, (okay, a lot of grease) but I had a functioning bike before me. 

Three hours and a full charge later (it takes 3-6 hours to charge the bike from completely dead using the pathfinder rapid charger, 6-8 hours using the solar charger) I was flying down trails near my house, thanks to the 1000-watt Ultra Drive motor. Shifting was smooth too, thanks to a SRAM nine-speed one-by drivetrain. 

The front fork is a GT MRK inverted air suspension fork that allows for 150mm of travel, while the rear shock is a RockShox Monarch RL. In times when you’d rather the bike perform like a hardtail, which I have to admit, never happened to me once in the month I was testing this, the Monarch RL does offer a lockout, albeit one with a blowoff valve. On my human-powered mountain bike I tend to use these lockouts, which effectively "turn off" the shock, when I’m heading up a particularly steep hill so I don't lose any momentum. With the assistance of the motor, I found this use case unnecessary, though I could see a situation where the battery is drained and this feature would come in handy. 

Speaking of a drained battery, let’s talk about range. Range on an electric-bike varies quite a bit, even more than the range of an electric vehicle, depending on what mode you are riding in, how much you’re pedaling and the terrain you’re riding on. The Jeep can be ridden in 10 different modes, Eco mode level one through five and Sport Mode level one through five. Almost all of my testing was in Sport mode, because, let’s be honest, more speed = more fun. On uphill rides on Sport mode level 5, especially when using the throttle, the battery drains quickly. Luckily you can purchase an extra battery from QuietKat. The almost-$800 price tag may seem steep, but in my opinion it is worth it if long days are in your plans.  

A 70+ pound bike, once moving, isn’t easy to stop, at least it wouldn’t be without the Tektro 730 four-piston hydraulic disc brakes QuietKat put on the Jeep. To test these I ventured to the top of a hill near my home. I have hit speeds of 48 miles per hour on my road bike on this downhill, a terrifying speed to be going when you’re riding on tires thinner than a kielbasa, but that bike weighs in the neighborhood of 22 pounds. The Jeep is over three times that. 

I didn’t break my personal speed record on that downhill on the Jeep, the fat tires cause too much friction for that to happen, but when I hit the brakes, I felt more confident than I have on any bike I’ve ever ridden. Brakes are the one thing between you and disaster on a bike, and QuietKat knows this, especially on an off-road focused electric bike. The brakes stop you quickly and easily, which is exactly what I’m looking for.